Week of April 19, 2010

Thank you for taking the time to read our blog and engage in our discussions. This week we are going to experiment with a new pattern of posting to see how it enhances or detracts from the conversation. This “cascading” will unfold over the course of the week. Unlike our previous method of all authors posting at 3pm EST on Monday, only two authors will post their replies to our prompt on Monday. On Tuesday, two new authors will post their responses, which will take into account not only the prompt, but also our colleagues’ posts on Monday. On Wednesday, two new authors will post, now taking into account the prompt and the four previous posts. This will continue on Thursday and Friday.

We hope that this not only enhances the conversation, but also our readers’ experience of the conversation. Please let us know what you think as the week goes on. As always we love hearing from old friends and new voices alike and invite everyone to participate through comments.

Our prompt this week is:

How can we use the current political and fiscal climates to subvert or take advantage of constraints to create more opportunities for authentic work? Given the fate of #SB6 in Florida, what should teachers do with “victories” against evaluation reform? What should our counterproposals be to executive efforts at reform? What new relationships and revenues should we be pursuing to fund our classrooms as personnel and funding leave our schools? What are you doing, specifically, in your educational community, to create new support structures for students within and beyond your workplace? What new roles or job descriptions can you cast for yourself and/or other educators as justified by the need to replace unfunded and obsolete systems and resources in your schools? How can “lean thinking” during lean times lead to richer learning in schools?